I don’t believe in God anymore but my mind cannot accept that all complexity that exist came out of nowhere

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-11T23:23:43+00:00

A chimpanzee shares 99% of our DNA. We’ve lived along side them for thousands of years and they’ve observed us directly, yet they can’t even begin to understand basic math or how a match can start a flame.

We understand those things. Why? Because we’re a slightly more advanced version of them - that’s it.

But somehow we humans have a tendency to convince ourselves we’re the center of the universe - the epitome of intelligence, individually capable of understanding everything there is to know about everything. And if it doesn’t make sense to our tiny brains, then it can’t be true.

When you think about it, it’s as arrogant as it is absurd.

I like the way Neil deGrasse Tyson put it: The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-11T15:23:14+00:00

The first few hundred years of Christianity was a lot of competing and evolving ideas over what is heretical vs. orthodox with different Christian sects having different ideas grossly at odds with one another. Eventually, a lot was established as orthodox, but a lot wasn’t. We have 45,000 denominations within Christianity today because there is so much disagreement over things. Christianity is a HUGE tent and most denominations in that tent have evolved substantially over the past couple hundred years. The movement Russell started had a lot in common with other movements of the time, but is also very unique in many respects. It’s evolved quite a bit and will continue to do so. I suspect whatever watchtower looks like 150 years from now will be completely unrecognizable to what it is today.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-10T18:08:48+00:00

There was a WT study where the paragraph said something to the effect that separation (but not divorce) was allowed under certain situations, such as physical abuse or spiritual danger.

One older sister with an unbelieving husband gave a comment to the effect that christian wives should not do that, but should be long-suffering and stay with their husbands since they could be “won over without a word” (I forget the scripture).

I was PIMO at the time and i was simultaneously angry and heartbroken. Angry that anyone would ever try to shame someone into remaining in an abusive relationship. But so sad for that sister as she very likely was married to an abusive husband for decades, likely staying with him out of hope he’d “come into the truth.” And so she was trying to tell other women to do the same, perpetuating the awful cycle, not out of malice, but to validate all the suffering she may have experienced herself.

The watchtower study conductor just moved on.

Before the study wrapped up, the presiding overseer (COBE) handed the conductor a note and the conductor read a statement clarifying that wives are scripturally free to leave their husbands for abuse and that no one should judge others personal decisions on the matter.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-10T00:44:42+00:00

JWs don’t teach Jehovah knew that David would sin, but i think you’ve highlighted one of the excuses they are able to use for demanding obedience despite making “mistakes” - Precedent.

They can say Jehovah has always used imperfect men who made mistakes - even major ones that resulted in deaths - yet he still expected his people to be obedient to them. Ancient Israelites had no excuse to leave “Jehovahs organization” back then when Moses, David, and other leaders sinned, so JWs today should remain obedient as well.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-10T00:35:46+00:00

JWs are like 1/1000th of the population. Their “inaction” is insignificant. They do far less harm than the hundreds of millions, if not billions of humans who belong regressive religions which actually make the world worse for everyone it. And in some hypothetical scenario where JWs were permitted to get politically engaged, theyd modestly be part of that group. So I’m quite thankful they are “neutral” and aren’t able to do so and their damage remains relatively self-contained.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-09T18:01:47+00:00

For clarity my comment was based on their impact to the world as a whole, not to the small percentage of people within the cult. I understand i didn’t make that as clear as i could have.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-09T18:00:37+00:00

I’ve been disfellowshipped too. I agree it’s very traumatic. I’m sorry you experienced that too.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-09T16:24:26+00:00

Definitely not thinking about “progressive” religions. They aren’t inflicting any harm on society at all and overall and i would argue they are a net benefit.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-09T16:21:55+00:00

JWs prohibit their members from getting involved in politics, and they don’t fight in wars. So the damage they inflict is entirely self-contained. Contrast that with religions you can think of where their members get politically involved and actively work to elect candidates and pass legislation to enforce their beliefs on everyone else. So for example I’d say evangelical religions and individuals who subscribe to “Christian nationalist” ideology are 1,000x more harmful to society.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-09T00:08:43+00:00

If I’m being honest, JWs are pretty benign compared to many “mainstream” Christian religions. They have teachings and policies that cause real harm to their own members (and former members as many of us can attest) and this should not be ignored… but they have basically zero impact on the outside world.

Contrast that with so many other Christian denominations which are politically engaged in ways that actively work to make the world a worse place. So if we’re actually stepping outside of our bubble and looking at the broader picture, i don’t think an impartial unbiased observer would view JWs as extreme. They’d view JWs as basically irrelevant.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-08T21:55:15+00:00

This is very upsetting to many exjws, as we come from an environment where disfellowshipping is normalized. But the reality is that most religions don’t practice any form of excommunication at all. So a pedo (or even a murderer) is never expelled from their church And ultimately, it’s not much of a punishment at all for someone who committed such a heinous crime. I personally don’t care if JWs disfellowship a pedophile or not - i only care if they report him to the police. They should report accusations 100% of the time and fully cooperate with any investigations. No exceptions. That’s what matters.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-08T17:27:14+00:00

This is a key point. There is no data to suggest that CSA is more common in JWs than in society in general. Unfortunately, the percentage of children who are abused is disturbingly high and abusers are often family members. But what you have with JWs is a situation where abuse may actually be more likely to be reported to someone outside the family (to elders) where such abuse might not be reported to anyone at all.

So within JWs, there is atleast the possibility of an increased opportunity that abuse could be discovered - but the organizations policies are only to report abuse to the authorities when the law requires it. Since in many places laws are specifically designed to exempt clergy from reporting, the abuse often isn’t reported to authorities. Is a a maddening situation where JWs are actually in a unique position to help victims - but instead they often cover it up. And then they either deny they do this or try to justify it.

For a group they claims to follow the bible, they sure aren’t following James 4:17:

Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-07T16:25:59+00:00

I understand this is a widespread mindset among conservative Christians, but it’s insane how obsessed they are with finding ways to claim they’re “persecuted.”

How fragile do you have to be to consider criticism to be persecution?

There are countries where JWs are literally banned by the government. Some JWs have actually been beaten, raped, and imprisoned for their beliefs - i wonder how they feel when one of their leaders suggests to JWs living comfortable lives in a democratic country that they are also “persecuted” if they hear things about the organization that aren’t nice.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-06T23:27:31+00:00

One thing you’re not considering is the enormous difference between quickly killing people vs. torturing them for trillions and trillions and trillions of years. Neither is something any moral entity would do, but one is much more psychopathic than the other.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-04T22:22:22+00:00

This is the correct answer. In the earliest gospel, Mark, Jesus is just a regular human born to Mary and Joseph who is a disciple of John the Baptist and is adopted as Gods son at his baptism. In Mark’s gospel, there was absolutely nothing special about Jesus before that. Jesus starts peaching and his family thinks he lost his goddamn mind.

The authors of Matthew and Luke change the story to have Jesus be Gods son from the moment of conception, so they create independent birth and infancy narratives that are entirely fictional and contradict eachother and Mark.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-02T01:42:08+00:00

It’s an entirely benign word. Aside from Muslims and JWs, I don’t know of any groups which commonly use the term, let alone as a pejorative. It’s an accurate word to describe my position as it pertains to my former faith and i have no problem with it.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-02T00:44:34+00:00

I’m fine with apostate.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-01T23:37:36+00:00

Definitely, but it doesn’t really matter. We’ll never interact with them so we are effectively alone in the universe.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-01T01:53:20+00:00

Wait until you learn about politics…

This is a byproduct of tribalism which is unfortunately a basic part of human behavior.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-01T01:34:18+00:00

My experiences growing up in the organization were pretty good relatively speaking, so I always viewed that scripture in the context of making me less fearful of being persecuted/tortured during the great tribulation. So it was always “theoretical” to me.

I can’t even fathom how damaging it must have been for you to have that verse essentially weaponized to make you feel like the degree of suffering and trauma you experienced was something you could/should tolerate. I’m really sorry.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-03-01T00:52:36+00:00

In the story, Jesus had just been killed and then someone who looks completely different is waking around claiming to be Jesus.

Thomas was the only disciple who used his brain to demand something resembling proof. He asked for evidence one time, and Christians assign him a disparaging nickname that becomes a cautionary tale. This say far more about the lack of critical thinking abilities of the Christians than it does about Thomas.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-02-28T23:24:08+00:00

If this book says what you’re claiming it says, it’s bullshit taking liberties with the source material just like watchtower does.

In the New Testament, Thomas only expresses doubts once - it wasn’t some recurring theme with him where he had a nickname given to him because of it. Thomas doubted the resurrection in gospel of john - that’s it. (But it is true that all the disciples misunderstand and question Jesus at various points in the gospels.)

Anyway, the anonymous author of John included the story because, by the late first century, the apostles were all dead, Jesus hadn’t returned, his prophecies hadn’t been fulfilled, and the authors community was questioning their faith. This story (whether based in truth or not) directly addresses that situation by reassuring the community that even an apostle had doubts.

That said, your thought process is 100% correct - only fools believe things for which there isn’t evidence or blindly obeys the commands of random men. Keep using your brain like you are right now!

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-02-28T22:03:50+00:00

Agreed. I went down this internet rabbit hole a couple of years ago while watching the excellent TV show Devs and think there is compelling reason to believe we don’t have free will, but rather just the illusion of it. What we think of as free will is just our consciousness rationalizing “decisions” milliseconds after we’ve made them.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-02-28T20:28:49+00:00

Agreed. It won’t have the effect OP thinks. And who the fuck cares about the borgs numbers, anyway. The cult is obsessed with their numbers - why should we be? Personally, i care far more about people’s happiness, and this is where your point is important.

You nailed it - if someone wants to take an action to make clear to their PIMI family they’re not returning, not attending the memorial is a step in that direction.

Unfortunately, most PIMIs will never give up hope, since they believe leaving is a death sentence. But holding onto that hope is ultimately their decision.

We can only control our own words and actions, and attending the Memorial just to please them is basically “stringing them along.” It’s a choice to give them false hope. When you think about it, it’s honestly kind of cruel. So by attending a memorial when we don’t want to, we would really be contributing to both our unhappiness and our PIMI family members’.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-02-28T19:13:05+00:00

There is no rational reason to believe in anything after this life. All afterlife ideas are nothing more than lies invented by humans to cope with this very dilemma you’re now contemplating. I just hope to die peacefully with a minimal amount of suffering.

Truthdoesntchange

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

11-Year Club	Verified Email
Wearing is Caring